Best First Hours

ninja gaiden dragon sword

The Nintendo DS was the first game system that I followed from
announcement to launch. It was way back early 2004 that Nintendo first
hinted at a dual-screened handheld, then codenamed "Nitro." Considering
that was the only information available, it's not surprising that many
questioned Nintendo's strategy. Why two screens? Nintendo offered some
hypothetical benefits, like extra camera angles for sports games, but
their words were hardly convincing. Little did we know, it was
Nintendo's first step into the "blue ocean" strategy that would lead the
company to greener pastures.

And yet, the original DS launch in November 2004 came and went with
little fanfare. I was aware of the date, but didn't even realized that
it arrived until I walked through a Wal-Mart electronics section and saw
the grey handheld on the shelves. I kept walking. I was
Nintendo faithful, sure, but it was hard to get excited about a launch lineup headlined by something nearly a decade old. It wasn't until the impending release of Kirby Canvas Curse in the
summer of 2005 that I decided to bite the bullet, trading in half of my
Gamecube library to GameStop in order to pay off the Nintendo DS and one
game.

While it's certainly worth praise in its own right, I think Canvas
Curse deserves to be remembered as the flagship of the DS library; it
was the first of a fleet of incredible games that would follow in its
wake. A system redesign, dubbed the DS Lite, accompanied the platform's
newfound software vigor. Reduced size, brighter screens, and an iPod
aesthetic provided enough worth for many to upgrade (including me) and
many more to buy in for the first time. The sleeker profile and beefier
games are what truly began the success story of the best-selling handheld game
system ever.

But even Nintendo's first detour in the generations-old graphical arms
race would lead to a dead end eventually. With the launch of a
successor, the 3DS, history tells us that the best we can hope for is a
year or two of life support for what was once Nintendo's "third pillar." It was an
incredible performance that none could have predicted, and I think the
Nintendo DS deserves a hearty round of applause before its curtain call.
I've decided to contribute to the celebration in that age-old tradition
of blogging: the top ten list.

In no particular order, here are ten great games that exemplified some aspect of the Nintendo DS' legacy.

Announcing the 2008 Game of the Year Awards from the First Hour! I beat 16 games this year, check out which ones are named the Game of the Year, Older Game of the Year, and a few others! New this year are the Worst Games of the Year.

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is a new action game for the Nintendo DS. It features 3D graphics with pre-rendered backgrounds and the story is set six months after the events in Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox. I recently posted my first hour review of Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden and was inspired to try out the newest offering in the series. This was an excellent decision because Dragon Sword was a great game and plays perfectly on the Nintendo DS. Read on for the full review, but note, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is not to be confused with Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos for the NES or Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360.